[pt] Devido ao seu comportamento físico-químico, os polímeros solúveis em água são utilizados em várias fases de perfuração, completação, e produção de poços de petróleo. Portanto, é fundamental prever e controlar o comportamento em meio poroso para entender o desempenho do polímero. Experimentos foram conduzidos para estudar a degradação de uma solução aquosa semi-diluída de PEO, usando dois capilares com diâmetros de entrada diferentes (100 micrômetros e 200 micrômetros) ambos com constrição de 50 micrômetros, criando fluxos transientes rápidos em seu centro. Diferentes vazões foram impostas a fim de observar diferentes taxas de cisalhamento e de alongamento no sistema. O efluente do fluxo foi coletado e reinjetado, e suas propriedades reológicas foram utilizadas como proxies para a degradação. Observamos que, para a contração mais abrupta, a vazão mínima necessária para degradar a solução é menor. Este resultado, analisado apenas sob a perspectiva da taxa de cisalhamento, não é razoável, já que a taxa de cisalhamento na constrição a que o polímero é submetido é igual em ambos os capilares. Portanto, inferimos que a brusquidão da contração desempenha um papel na degradação, o que significa que a taxa de alongamento pode ser responsável pela menor taxa de fluxo crítico. Também foi observado um padrão de como ocorre a degradação com as injeções subsequentes. Podemos inferir que injeções subsequentes causam degradação incremental antes de se aproximar de um patamar de estabilização e que vazões mais altas geram patamares de degradação mais baixos. / [en] Due to their physical-chemical behavior, water-soluble polymers are used extensively in various phases of drilling, completion, workover, and production of oil and gas wells. Therefore, it is fundamental to predict and to control in-situ porous medium behavior in order to understand polymer performance. Experiments were conducted to study the degradation of a semi diluted (2000 ppm) aqueous solution of PEO, using two capillaries with different entrance diameter (100 micrometers and 200 micrometers) both with 50 micrometers radius constriction, creating Fast-Transient Flows in their center. Different injection rates were imposed in order to observe different shear and extensional rates in the system. The effluent of the flow was collected, and reinjected, and rheological properties of the fluids were used as proxies for the degradation of the solution. We observed that for the more abrupt contraction, the minimum flow rate needed for degrading the polymer solution is lower. This result, when analyzed purely under shear rate perspective, is not reasonable, since the constriction shear rates to which the polymer is subjected are equal at both capillaries. Therefore, we inferred that the abruptness of the contraction plays a role in the degradation, which means elongational rate may be responsible for the lower critical flow rate. It was also observed a pattern for how the degradation occurs with subsequent injections. We could infer that subsequent injections cause incremental degradation before approaching a stabilization plateau and that higher flow rates generated lower degradation plateaus.

The main goal of this thesis is to develop practical digital controller architectures for multi-phase dc-dc converters utilized in low power (up to few hundred watts) and cost-sensitive applications. The proposed controllers are suitable for on-chip integration while being capable of providing advanced features, such as dynamic efficiency optimization, inductor current estimation, converter component identification, as well as combined dynamic current sharing and fast transient response. The first part of this thesis addresses challenges related to the practical implementation of digital controllers for low-power multi-phase dc-dc converters. As a possible solution, a multi-use high-frequency digital PWM controller IC that can regulate up to four switching converters (either interleaved or standalone) is presented. Due to its configurability, low current consumption (90.25 μA/MHz per phase), fault-tolerant work, and ability to operate at high switching frequencies (programmable, up to 10 MHz), the IC is suitable to control various dc-dc converters. The applications range from dc-dc converters used in miniature battery-powered electronic devices consuming a fraction of watt to multi-phase dedicated supplies for communication systems, consuming hundreds of watts. A controller for multi-phase converters with unequal current sharing is introduced and an efficiency optimization method based on logarithmic current sharing is proposed in the second part. By forcing converters to operate at their peak efficiencies and dynamically adjusting the number of active converter phases based on the output load current, a significant improvement in efficiency over the full range of operation is obtained (up to 25%). The stability and inductor current transition problems related to this mode of operation are also resolved. At last, two reconfigurable digital controller architectures with multi-parameter estimation are introduced. Both controllers eliminate the need for external analog current/temperature sensing circuits by accurately estimating phase inductor currents and identifying critical phase parameters such as equivalent resistances, inductances and output capacitance. A sensorless non-linear, average current-mode controller is introduced to provide fast transient response (under 5 μs), small voltage deviation and dynamic current sharing with multi-phase converters. To equalize the thermal stress of phase components, a conduction loss-based current sharing scheme is proposed and implemented.

The main goal of this thesis is to develop practical digital controller architectures for multi-phase dc-dc converters utilized in low power (up to few hundred watts) and cost-sensitive applications. The proposed controllers are suitable for on-chip integration while being capable of providing advanced features, such as dynamic efficiency optimization, inductor current estimation, converter component identification, as well as combined dynamic current sharing and fast transient response. The first part of this thesis addresses challenges related to the practical implementation of digital controllers for low-power multi-phase dc-dc converters. As a possible solution, a multi-use high-frequency digital PWM controller IC that can regulate up to four switching converters (either interleaved or standalone) is presented. Due to its configurability, low current consumption (90.25 μA/MHz per phase), fault-tolerant work, and ability to operate at high switching frequencies (programmable, up to 10 MHz), the IC is suitable to control various dc-dc converters. The applications range from dc-dc converters used in miniature battery-powered electronic devices consuming a fraction of watt to multi-phase dedicated supplies for communication systems, consuming hundreds of watts. A controller for multi-phase converters with unequal current sharing is introduced and an efficiency optimization method based on logarithmic current sharing is proposed in the second part. By forcing converters to operate at their peak efficiencies and dynamically adjusting the number of active converter phases based on the output load current, a significant improvement in efficiency over the full range of operation is obtained (up to 25%). The stability and inductor current transition problems related to this mode of operation are also resolved. At last, two reconfigurable digital controller architectures with multi-parameter estimation are introduced. Both controllers eliminate the need for external analog current/temperature sensing circuits by accurately estimating phase inductor currents and identifying critical phase parameters such as equivalent resistances, inductances and output capacitance. A sensorless non-linear, average current-mode controller is introduced to provide fast transient response (under 5 μs), small voltage deviation and dynamic current sharing with multi-phase converters. To equalize the thermal stress of phase components, a conduction loss-based current sharing scheme is proposed and implemented.